City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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READING — Don Ross was fully aware his Central Dauphin East ballclub needed some sort of jolt — but just what was appropriate for his weary group.

Especially since McCaskey was knocking down all sorts of shots and trying to run and hide from a Panthers group whose dwindling energy resources were nearly on E.

Nonetheless, Ross decided to go for it.

Ordering up some pressure, East’s revised defensive approach was predicated on wearing out a McCaskey outfit that wasn’t going all that frequently for fresh bodies and to perk up his own bench in an attempt to get legs moving everywhere.

Well, Ross’ tactical change worked splendidly on all counts.

Not only was East able to climb out of a first-half hole in a hurry, but the Panthers continued to play at a brisk pace after the break and eventually bounced out of the Geigle Complex with an 85-68 victory in Game 2 of Saturday’s three-game showcase.

While 6-9 big man Brennen Jackson popped a double-double to lead East — Jackson scored 16 points and collared 12 boards — the remarkably balanced Panthers pushed four others into double figures before the back-and-forth contest was over.

D.J. Cooper netted 12 of his 14 points in the second half, diminutive dynamo Justin Henry numbered three treys among his 13-point effort, sophomore slasher Jordan McCraw banked 12 points and Jordan Gillis hopped off the bench to add 12 more as East (10-5) polished off Steve Powell’s weary Red Tornado.

“I’m proud of the guys because this is our fourth game in five days and they were able to dig down and actually get the energy to actually press like that,” Ross said.

“That was good.”

East also outrebounded McCaskey 41-20 — “Finally,” Ross cracked — and assisted on 19 of its 32 field goals. Henry dropped seven dimes, two more than Evan Chandler.

William Joseph scored 22 points to lead McCaskey (5-10), while Ricky Cruz chipped in 17, Isiah Speller finished with 12 and Ray Godwin wound up with 10.

With Cruz ringing up 14 first-half points and the 6-7 Joseph adding 11, McCaskey sported a 28-19 lead with 3:22 left in the half. The Tornado also were threatening to blow the contest open and leave East lingering in its exhaust.

Never happened.

Ross opted to unleash his aforementioned pressure, shots started to fall, East located its reserve tanks and that annoying deficit began to disappear.

“At the beginning of the game, we started out kind of sluggish and it was probably the bus ride,” Cooper said. “Once we started getting back on track, we started coming back to our natural flow. When we started to pick it up, that’s when we started to click.”

And East was clicking.

When Gillis converted an and-one with 42.9 seconds showing, the Panthers were all square with McCaskey, in the midst of an 8-0 spurt and gaining all sorts of steam.

A McCraw finish at the hoop and a Chandler freebie closed out a run that had East in front 39-36, but only momentarily since Cruz canned a deep look at the horn.

Continuing to push as soon as the third quarter began, Cooper banked 10 points in three minutes near the hoop as the Panthers opened a 52-46 lead.

“I feed off their energy and when I feed off them, it makes my game benefit,” Cooper said. “I really owe it to my guys, because that’s who I’m there for.

“I’m more of a team person.”

Although’s East’s growing cushion expanded to 11 (62-51) on McCraw’s reverse layup off a baseline drive, McCaskey wasn’t ready to call it a day just yet, closing the third quarter with a 7-0 spurt punctuated by Joseph’s trey.

Powell’s Tornado was down four (62-58) entering the fourth quarter, but Gillis sandwiched two of his three treys from the right corner around another Cooper finish as the Panthers quickly zipped to a 70-60 advantage.

“He snapped his leg at the beginning of August and was just beginning to come back at the beginning of November,” Ross said of the remarkably dependable Gillis, a 6-0 senior veteran. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him to get back and now he’s starting to get in the flow of things. He can shoot it. He can shoot it.”

McCaskey discovered that in the second half.

Even with more than six minutes to play, Ross’ club was playing at a crisp pace and in control yet didn’t stop attacking from all sorts of spots on the floor.

“Our coach is always talking about pass the pill and share the rock, get more guys involved,” Cooper said. “When it happens, it opens our offense up even more because the [other team] doesn’t know who to go to and you can’t really stick.

“It just helps our game more and more.”

And that was readily apparent.

A few minutes later, a satisfying result belonged to a suburban Harrisburg outfit that began the season 7-0 and then suddenly seemed to lose its way.

Maybe Saturday’s victory will help get the Panthers back on track.

“We ran through a rough spell,” Ross said. We played some really good teams.

“We’re gonna just keep pushing.”

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Reading rolls to 11th straight victory in easy fashion

On the attack from the opening tip until the result was in hand — and that was well before the halftime break — Rick Perez’s Red Knights ran their winning streak to 11 games by clocking Largo (Md.) 76-42 in the final game of the night.

Reading, the No. 2 Class 6A side in City of Basketball Love’s latest rankings, gained control so quickly the Red Knights led 29-8 after one quarter and 58-20 at the half.

Lonnie Walker paced Reading (14-2) with 19 points — all in the opening half — and Tyrone Nesby backed the Miami recruit with 15 more as the Red Knights blew things open with a ridiculously easy flourish. Walker even closed the first half with a banked runner from just inside the foul line that wowed the partisan gathering.

Isiah Cook and Tymir Comfort also cracked double figures for the hosts, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively. Comfort also paced the Knights with eight rebounds.

Nayshon Kane’s 13 points topped Largo (8-4), which earlier this season suffered losses to York High and McCaskey at the latter’s holiday event.

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Parkland pulls away in second half, runs winning streak to seven

Shrugging off a halftime deficit, Parkland cranked out an impressive second-half performance and motored past York High 76-63 in Game 1 of the triple dip.

American University recruit Sam Iorio netted 11 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter as Andy Stephens’ streaking Trojans (9-5) opened things up down the stretch and eased to the victory. Parkland led by 17 (73-56) with 2:15 to play.

Michael Zeky chimed in with 15 points and Jake Bartholomew totaled 12 as Parkland claimed its seventh straight victim. Bartholomew hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the final quarter, pushing the Trojans’ lead to 57-47.

York High (6-10) closed within eight points twice in the fourth quarter, but never got closer as Clovis Gallon’s Bearcats dropped their third in a row.

Jacquez Casiano banked 18 points for York High, which led 28-23 at the halftime break and was within four (49-45) when the fourth quarter began. Gallon’s bunch also picked up 10 points from Marquise McClean.